Air Date: Week of March 30, 2018

An Eastern Whipbird, which lives primarily in the understory of the Australian rainforest. (Photo: Brian McCauley)

Northeastern Australia’s rainforests are home to a number of some intriguing species, as Mary McCann describes in today’s BirdNote®.

Transcript

[MUSIC: BIRDNOTE® THEME]

CURWOOD: A visit to a far-off country can offer the chance to experience the truly exotic and unfamiliar – and as Mary McCann tells us in today’s BirdNote, that’s certainly true of the land down-under.

BirdNote®
Australia’s Rainforest Birds
[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/193295, 0.02-.05]
MCCANN: The rainforests of Northeastern Australia are isolated from all other rainforests on earth. As a result, they harbor many species of birds found nowhere else.

[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/193295, 0.02-.05]

The Eastern Whipbird hangs out in the dense understory. It’s dark, crested, 10 inches long—and more often heard than seen. Like its neighbor, the Spotted Catbird, that’s nearly a foot long and emerald-green with white spots.

[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/202015, 0.37-.42]

Easier to lay eyes on is the large, pigeon-like Wompoo Fruit-Dove, perching high in a tree, gulping down small fruits. Feathered in a stunning combination of green, purple, and yellow, this bird is clearly named for its voice.

[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/202015, 0.37-.38]

While pig-like grunting on the forest floor tells us we’re in the company of the largest bird on the continent—the Southern Cassowary.

[http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius]

On average, the female weighs 130 pounds and stands around 5 feet tall, looking like a giant, lush, black hairpiece on thick legs.

[http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius]

A helmet called a casque makes it look as much like a dinosaur as any living bird.

[http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius, first recording in list]
I’m Mary McCann.
###
Written by Bob Sundstrom
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York: Eastern Whipbird [193295] recorded by David A McCartt; Spotted Catbird [189064] recorded by Cedar A Mathers-Winn; Wompoo Fruit-Dove [202015] recorded by Emma I Greig.
Southern Cassowary recorded by Marc Anderson, sourced from
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2005-2018 Tune In to Nature.org March 2018 Narrator: Mary McCann

http://birdnote.org/show/australias-rainforest-birds

CURWOOD: Burrow on down to our website, loe dot org, to see some photos and learn more.

 

Links

This story on the BirdNote® website

The call of the Eastern Whipbird

The call of the Wompoo Fruit-Dove

About the Southern Cassowary